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Untangling the Path to Brick and Mortar

July 10, 2014

The path to purchase, having been disrupted by mobile, is no longer a linear road. Consumers are empowered with on-the-go access to information and messaging that tangles the transition from discovery to intent to purchase. However, all is not lost for brands and retailers. In fact, mobile can be a significant driver of traffic and purchase intent when leveraged correctly.

The Local Mobile Advantage of Retailing report released by Key Ring and G/O Digital highlights the opportunity for mobile to untangle the path to brick and mortar. Insights were gathered by surveying more than 13,000 Key Ring app users.

Mobile as a Conduit for Saving Money

A key finding in the study is that “search for a coupon” is the most common activity performed on a mobile device when shopping. Also, for most types of shopping trips, an item being on sale is a driving factor for purchase. Ultimately, consumers want the best, lowest prices and they want to get that benefit by doing as little work as possible. Mobile devices help consumers access this information easily, both as they plan their shopping trips and when they are on-the-go.

Beacons and Push Notifications Deliver Relevancy

As G/O Digital CMO Jeff Fagel recently wrote, marketers need to “consider how consumers already interact with their devices and take advantage of that behavior.” Location-based technology like iBeacons and geofencing allow marketers to create shopping experiences that satisfy customers’ personal, contextually relevant and local needs. Marketers can now deliver something extremely useful to consumers as they shop. The key is delivering the most relevant content to the shopper with the pinpointed accuracy that the technology provides.

For example, the Local Mobile Advantage of Retailing report finds that apparel purchases are influenced by items being on sale. Retailers can serve limited time sale prices to shoppers as they walk into a store, helping to enhance the customer’s decision making process. In an information-overloaded world, providing utility – or ease of access to pertinent information – makes iBeacon and geofence notifications a welcome addition to a mobile-driven shopping experience. As inMarket, a leader in beacon technology found, this produces higher in-store engagement. A study conducted by inMarket found that the use of beacons in retail stores caused a 19-time increase in interactions with advertised products.

To find more key insights about how mobile untangles the path to brick and mortar and encourages consumers to makes purchases, download the full Local Mobile Advantage of Retailing report.